The Scarlet Letter: Chapters 8-10
Take-home / Group Test
Chapter 8: “The Elf Child and the Minister”
1. What are the two allusions given at the beginning of the chapter?
2. Who does the reader learn were the 3 men with Governor Bellingham that the servant had
mentioned in Chapter 7?
3. For how long has Roger Chillingworth been a member of the community at this point and
what is his relationship with Reverend Dimmesdale?
4. What does Reverend Wilson think Pearl’s clothing insinuates?
5. What is Pearl’s response to Reverend Wilson’s question?
6. In what ways have both Chillingworth and Dimmesdale changed since the time of Hester’s
public humiliation?
7. What does Hester say to Dimmesdale that could be considered verbal irony?
8. What argument does Dimmesdale make to the governor in Hester’s favor?
9. What does Dimmesdale mean by the italicized part of the following quote: “...as it were the
Creator’s sacred pledge, that, if she bring the child to Heaven, the child will bring its parent
thither! Herein is the sinful mother happier than the sinful father”?
10. What unspoken communication occurs between Pearl and Dimmesdale?
11. What does Chillingworth want to do with Pearl and for what reason?
12. What is the governor’s response to Chillingworth’s request?
13. According to rumor, who appears at the window when Hester and Pearl leave the
governor’s residence and what does this person say? What is Hester’s response?
Chapter 9: “The Leech”
14. What came to be assumed of Hester’s husband?
15. What does the author mean by “a new purpose” in the following quote: “This purpose once
effected, new interests would immediately spring up, and likewise a new purpose; dark, it is
true, if not guilty, but of force enough to engage the full strength of his faculties”?
16. For what reason did the people of the colony consider Chillingworth’s arrival divine
intervention?
17. Dimmesdale, at first, refuses medical aid, saying “I need no medicine,” and does think
himself worthy “to walk” with God. What is he insinuating?
18. Explain, in detail, the relationship between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. (Why did they
become companions? What did Dimmesdale enjoy about Chillingworth’s friendship? Etc.)
19. Explain the following quote, including the simile within it: “So Roger Chillingworth—the man
of skill, the kind and friendly physician—strove to go deep into his patient’s bosom, delving
among his principles, prying into his recollections, and probing every thing with a cautious
touch, like a treasure-seeker in a dark cavern...then, at some inevitable moment, will the
soul of sufferer be dissolved, and flow forth in a dark, but transparent stream, bringing all
its mysteries into the daylight.”
20. In what way did the relationship between Dimmesdale and Chillingworth grow even closer,
literally? What was Dimmesdale’s alternative to this arrangement and what was his
response?
21. Google the story of King David and Bathsheba. How can this story relate to Dimmesdale.
22. How physical change did the people of the colony see in Chillingworth? What did they begin
to believe about him and his doctoring methods?
Chapter 10: “The Leech and His Patient”
23. Explain the discourse that takes place between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale about
confessing one’s sins before death. What does Chillingworth say is better and why? And
what does Dimmesdale explain as a possible reason for a person not confessing his sin?
24. Explain Pearl’s comment: “Come away, mother! Come away, or yonder old Black Man will
catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already. Come away, mother, or he will catch
you!”
25. When Dimmesdale asks Chillingworth about his condition and any improvement in it since
he became his doctor, what does Chillingworth say he still needs to know before he can
accurately diagnose him? What is Dimmesdale’s response?
26. What makes Chillingworth so joyful at the close of this chapter?